James has been on a Toy Story 3 kick since the movie came out this summer. He plays the Wii version of the game quite a bit and his favorite character is Woody (and also Rex because he is such a dinosaur fan). He likes Buzz but calls him Buzz Lightweight instead of Buzz Lightyear, a reference to Toy Story 2 for those who have seen the movie (the Kelsey Grammar character (stinky pete or something like that) refers to the Tim Allen character (Buzz) as Lightweight).

Today he got a package in the mail from Aunt Peg and it was a Toy Story play set with a pull out “Andy’s Room”. A very cool toy and James has been playing with it since it arrived. James wanted to say thanks to Aunt Peg so here are some of the first pics from the play set so Aunt Peg could see how happy this made him.

Thanks again Peg.

Continue reading “Toy Story 3 Arrives 2010” →

It was a very hot July day and the traffic and construction tie ups were terrible, but we made it to the Blues Festival in Marshall Michigan for the first time. James and I stayed for a bit then went on to the park and a magic shop, while mom enjoyed the music while shopping for antiques on the Marshall main street. We left around 6pm as the place was just starting to get real crowded. Mary bought a cd of the music of one of the bands and we listened to it on the way home.

That evening James watched a dinosaur movie then did his own version of it in his puppet theatre. Lots of entertainment this day!

Continue reading “Marshall Blues Festival 2010 – Then Puppet Show” →

Meet Nicolette

What a great time we had at the Trenton festival. James has been here several times in the past few years and he always has a good time. I think his favorite thing is getting the free balloons from the various shop keeps to participate. This year there were a whole bunch of inflatable moonwalks and slides that he could play in as well as the usual games that he is familiar with. He also got to put out a simulated fire with a real fire hose. After the event was over we went out for Chinese to complete a wonderful summer day.

On the way home, we stopped by Aunt Louises old house and snapped a picture. sure looks different with those gates in the drive.

Continue reading “Trenton Festival 2010” →

The Fourth of July celebration in Colon is truly a marvel for the year. Our family and I had a wonderful time again. Our day began at 11am watching the parade go down main street from the high school. Our friends Walter and Mary Weaver were gracious host so we had a front row seat for most of the activities. There were many highlights of the parade but most of our group felt the flyover by the jets was the best part.

Once the parade ended and we took a short break, then went down for the festivities which included many games and activities including a couple new ones. Our group then hooked up for a magic show at Abbott’s where we enjoyed a wonderful performance by Gordon Miller.

Special thanks to Walter and Mary Weaver for having us. Thanks to Grandma for joining us as well.

Continue reading “Magic Capitol 4th of July Parade & Festival 2010” →

James got to go to a festival two days in a row. The first day he went was Saturday when we stopped off at the Oakwood Festival on the way to a graduation party (Kirsten Maliszewski). The next day we picked up Aunt Peg and took her shopping, then went back to the carnival for some more fun. The pictures here are from the first day, the second day it was just Dad and James so no one took pictures which was fine with the both of us (Aunt Peg couldn’t join us because she was in pain with her legs.). The only ride we did different the second day was the Ferris Wheel and I would have to say James liked that the best.

Continue reading “Oakwood Festival 2010” →

We were thrilled to learn James would be promoted to the second grade, but shocked to see how he did it, with 6 awards. Last year he got one for being a student in Kindergarten. James’ teacher was very proud of the progress James made, especially since Christmas which seems to have been the turning point. James still has issues from time to time but is talking much more and has a very large vocabulary. We contribute a lot of James success to the Wii game he got for Christmas which he really interacted with very well. He had always liked video games but the Wii had wireless remotes, in the other games his jumping and playing usually eventually broke the wires in the remote.

Continue reading “James Promoted With Honors To Second Grade 2010” →

James had another good day today according to his teacher. He got a Red Star on the sentences that he wrote. There are actually 2 pages, back and front, but I only scan the one with the red star, besides, I think most readers will get the idea. I am sure reading sentences written by a first grader isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, unless you are his parents or relatives, then its awesome.

There are certain places in the world where you know its spring because of a certain event. Perhaps you are familiar with the cherry blossoms in DC, the groundhog (and his shadow) in Pennsylvania, or spring training for baseball starting in Florida.

Well, you know it is spring around here when the ducks return to Tulane St. We have no idea why they stop here on their journey to their final destination, perhaps its the cuisine. This happened very early on a Sunday morning so James was still snoozing and missed all the fun. Mary gave each of the visitors a piece of bread and they had a grand ole time munching it down before continuing on their journey.

It’s been a while since posting here, most of Feb was spent shoveling snow. Jame’s school work is still going very well and his speech improves every day. He had a couple of snow days in February.

Last week Mary, Peg, James, and myself went to Kroger. Each Sunday James returns the bottles and cashes in the money for candy or toys. This week was no exception and James pushed all the bottles into the machine and got his receipt for $1.80 which he put in his pocket and we made our way to the cashier. Unfortunately the lines were way way long and James did not want to wait, so he found his mom and gave her the receipt and James and I walked out toward the car (we usually listen to the radio when Peg/Mary are grocery shopping). As we were walking to the car, James looks up at me, a look of frustration in his face, and says. “$1.80, All Gone”.

Mary turned in her 10 year old Kia and got a Ford Fusion so my father can stop rolling over in his grave that we bought a Japanese car. The car served its purpose, but was 10 years old with a broken seat and a few other malfunctions. We only have one picture of the new car because it has been buried in snow most of the time in the driveway. Thanks to our neighbor Allen who works for Fords and got us something called a “friend and family” discount.